Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, I’ll be taking a look back at an attraction that had its last shows ever on May 9th, somehow surviving when rumors of its closure had run rampant for years.
For today’s story, we’re going to start at the end with the news that today’s featured attraction, Poseidon’s Fury, closed at Universal’s Islands of Adventure on Monday, May 9th. The attraction has been extremely divisive ever since it first opened, even with a few different versions over the years, so let’s take a step back and look at how we got here.
Just a few years after Universal Studios Florida opened, the company was already thinking about adding a second park to the mix and becoming a resort on par with Walt Disney World right down the road. Islands of Adventure was designed as a collection of islands around a large lake of water, with each island representing some kind of written works from Marvel comic books to novels like Jurassic Park. One of those islands was called the Lost Continent with sub-lands relating to Merlin, Sindbad, and Atlantis. Many of these mystical ideas came from a never-realized land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom called Beastly Kingdom after many of the former Imagineers moved over to Universal.
As the development started on the land, the Atlantis attraction was originally called Journey to Atlantis and would have put guests on a simulator that “drilled” down to Atlantis where an encounter with Poseidon would go awry after the god didn’t take too kindly to having some intruders in his area, throwing guests on a wild adventure with a harrowing escape.
But trouble ensued as Seaworld owner Busch Gardens had a water park across the street from Busch Garden Tampa Bay named Adventure Island. Of course, that name was simply too close for the lawyers there, so Busch Gardens engaged in legal action against Universal. The ultimate resolution was pretty interesting as Seaworld was planning on an Atlantis attraction of their own, so they allowed Universal to use the name Islands of Adventure in exchange for getting to use the name Journey to Atlantis for their own attraction.
With the name change, the attraction also started getting smaller in scope as the designers began to reach their budget, so the simulator was scrapped with the attraction simply becoming a walkthrough with tons of effects.
Even with those hiccups, the newly named Poseidon’s Fury still managed to be ready for the opening day of the park on May 28, 1999 with many guests excited for what had been promised as an exciting new kind of attraction.
Guests were originally greeted by a live actor called the Keeper, who would start by telling guests about ancient battles between Zeus and Poseidon before promising to take guests to Atlantis with the help of the Oracle. The Oracle was a disembodied all-knowing figure, as you might expect for the name. The Keeper and Oracle would interact throughout as the Keeper guided guests through a few rooms before reaching the Temple of Poseidon. Once in the temple in Atlantis, an angry Poseidon appeared (through some really cheesy animation voiced by the wonderful Jeremy Irons), only to be confronted by the Keeper who revealed himself to be Zeus (also brought to life by some rough animation). The two battled it out, with Zeus coming out on top and whisking everyone away to safety.
Let’s just say, guests were not impressed with Poseidon’s Fury upon its opening with many rightfully criticizing the story, especially because it seemed like there was no purpose to the guest being there. For having a live actor there to take them through, very little background information was given other than the Greek stories, so guests just kind of had to figure it out. In fact, people so disliked the show that it was one of the top guest complaints in the first few years. Less than two years after opening, Universal made the bold decision to close the attraction down and completely revamp the story of the attraction, ultimately gutting the entire show and creating something brand new in twelve short weeks.
They didn’t change much of the look of the attraction, which always featured such an interesting looking exterior that really drew guests in with how detailed the ruins were. The rest of the queue was pretty equally awesome and served as a perfect tie into the new driving force of the story, that is that we as the guests were going on a tour of the ruins, with Professor Baxter. However, when we got there, Professor Baxter was missing, so his volunteer Taylor (played by a live actor) took it upon himself to be our guide and get the tour started. After a few minutes, he managed to get a hold of Baxter over the radio, but Baxter sounded distressed and then something took a hold of him and seemingly killed him after he warned us all to get out of there.
After the disappearance, the lights suddenly went dark and Taylor used his flashlights to find some wall writing, which he then read out loud, waking up Lord Darkennon, the evil spirit who had been trapped in the room with Poseidon thousands of years ago. Lord “D” spoke to the guests and basically told them he had trapped them and they’d have to progress deeper into the ruins.
In the next room, Darkennon’s voice comes back to basically force Taylor to find Poseidon’s trident in his quest to vanquish Poseidon. Of course, Taylor accidentally finds it, but refuses to give in to Lord “D”’s demands, so a voice in the wall appears that promises to help Taylor, but unfortunately cannot help the guests escape, only send them further into the madness.
Via YouTube
A door then opened with an amazing water vortex behind it with the water spinning around the guests at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, keeping guests dry even though they were surrounded by water. Laughing Place’s own Tony wrote a great piece on the water vortex if you want to learn more.
Poseidon's Fury Will Permanently Close on May 10 at Islands of Adventure, (And What Could Replace It) – Orlando ParkStop
After the great reveal, guests were basically cramped into a small room where Poseidon’s voice was heard asking Taylor to bring him the trident. There was then a great rumble and the wall in front disappeared, revealing an enormous room with rocks and water everywhere, plus a statue of Poseidon. Lord Darkennon then appeared on some screens in the back and tried his best to stop Taylor from delivering the trident, but Taylor proved too evasive and got the trident to the statue reawakening the water god and setting up a final showdown between Poseidon and Darkennon.
The final battle featured fire and water screens, though that combo didn’t always work because the two battlers were projected on water screens that one could barely see them fighting when the fire was more intense. But on the whole, it was a fitting battle at the end, with Poseidon winning and sending all of us back home safely.
I will say, the second version of Poseidon’s Fury wasn’t amazing, but it was definitely a more compelling story than the original version. It was silly and a bit corny, but with a good Taylor, the silliness was ramped up a bit, providing a fun fifteen minutes in air conditioning, which is sometimes all you can ask for. It was the last truly original attraction in the park, so it is a bit of a bummer to be losing that. We still don’t know what will ultimately end up replacing it, but there are many rumors about expanding the Nintendo presence with a Legend of Zelda land, though I could also see the land having a Wicked theme with the upcoming film. Only time will tell, but whatever does replace it will have large shoes to fill in terms of originality and technical immersion.
Via Twitter
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!